Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sir Eustace Francis Tickell KBE CB MC (10 December 1893 – 28 December 1972) was a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

officer during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Military career

Born on 10 December 1893 in Srinagar Kashmir, Eustace Tickell was educated at

Bedford School :''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English i ...

and at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Si ...

. He received his first commission in the Royal Engineers in 1913 and served in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

and

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. Tickell served as an instructor at the

Royal School of Military Engineering The Royal School of Military Engineering (RSME) Group provides a wide range of training for the British Army and Defence. This includes; Combat Engineers, Carpenters, Chartered Engineers, Musicians, Band Masters, Sniffer Dogs, Veterinary Techni ...

in 1919 and, after marrying two years later, he returned to the RMA Woolwich, this time as an instructor, from 1924−1927. He then served in Northern China in 1928, before returning to the United Kingdom to become

officer commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, t ...

(OC) Royal Engineers officers at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

from 1932−1934. He was then made Commander Royal Engineers (CRE) with Northern Command from 1936−1938, followed by being made CRE of the 5th Infantry Division until 1939, and then Chief Engineer,

British Troops in Egypt British Troops in Egypt was a command of the British Army. History A British Army commander was appointed in the late 19th century after the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882. The British Army remained in Egypt throughout the First World War and, after t ...

, a position he was holding at the beginning of the

in September 1939. During the war Tickell served in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

, and in 1940 was appointed Director of Works with

Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

. In 1944, still in the Middle East, he was briefly made Engineer-in-Chief with Middle East Command, before being made Director of Works with the

21st Army Group The 21st Army Group was a British headquarters formation formed during the Second World War. It controlled two field armies and other supporting units, consisting primarily of the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army. Established ...

, from 1944−1945. Engineer-in-Chief with the British Liberation Army in 1945, he returned that year to the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD ...

to be made Engineer-in-Chief there. His father, Charles Tickell, was a Civil Engineer who worked for the Maharajah of Kashmir (1892–1894). The father of

Marston Tickell, Major General Sir Eustace Tickell was invested as a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...

in 1942, and as a Knight Companion of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1945.The London Gazette issue 37161
/ref> After being made President of the Institution of Royal Engineers in 1948, a post he retained until 1951, he retired from the

in 1949 but the next year he was made Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineer Corps until 1958, as well as, in 1953, becoming Honorary Colonel of the Army Emergency Reserve Royal Engineers Resource Unit, until 1959. Tickell died in Surrey on 28 December 1972, shortly after turning 79.

References

Bibliography

External links

Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tickell, Eustace 1893 births 1972 deaths People educated at Bedford School Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British Army personnel of World War I British Army generals of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Academics of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Military personnel of British India War Office personnel in World War II